Page 13 of Living with Fire
Suspicion fills Jordan’s narrowing eyes and I clench my jaw, preparing for what’s about to come.
“How do you know her?” She crosses her arms again. “What’s her name?”
Damn it. Jordan had to go and make this difficult. I really don’t want to spill how I know this woman, especially not when Jordan knows the story. But I know the look in my sister’s eye, and she isn’t going to give me anything until I tell her the truth.
“She’s the woman from the elevator,” I mumble with the hope she won’t catch it.
I’m not sure if she does or not when she enunciates very clearly, “Pardon?”
Scrubbing a hand over my face, knowing it’s heating up despite the fact that I’m trying to remain cool and collected, I look anywhere but at my sister. I wish she could have made this easy on me. But she won’t, and doesn’t, standing there staring at me while I go through numerous levels of discomfort.
Finally I pull in a breath and meet her eyes, speaking quietly but clearly, “She’s the woman from the elevator.”
“The girl you pulled from the fire is the same girl from the elevator? The girl that Liam was telling me about?” she asks, a smirk slowly spreading across her face.
I can see the gears turning in her head as she thinks about this, causing me to groan inwardly. It was the one thing I didn’t want to tell her. Premonitions of conversations between us later are already flashing through my head. She’s going to want to know every detail.
I give her one slow nod of confirmation, shoving my hand back into the pocket of my jacket.
“Nate, why didn’t you just tell me that?” Jordan gives me a light punch on my shoulder, beaming with far too much enthusiasm. “Let me go see if she’s still around, or if she’s been discharged.”
Rolling my eyes, I drop my body weight against the nearest wall as she spins and skips down the hall as though I’ve put a pep in her step. Given how she’s been poking into my love life lately, like everyone else, I imagine I have given her a boost by showing up to ask about a beautiful woman.
She’s going to turn into our aunts one day. One day soon, if she isn’t careful. Maybe that’s why she’s so eager to ignore some of the possible red tape.
Honestly, this is the most interest I’ve shown in a woman in a long time. At least that anyone in my life has seen. When I need to scratch an itch I’m a lot more subtle about it than Liam is, usually finding a woman through a dating app that knows the score. Drinks, maybe dinner, and then heating the sheets. No strings attached, no having to explain that I’m a workaholic. Just a night of fun.
Not that I’ve had one of those nights in a while. Christ. The last time I did that was well before Uncle Pete passed away. I don’t see that changing any time soon, either. Coming to the hospital to check up on a victim is just that. I’m being a good guy to someone who has had a couple of rough days. I’d do it for anyone.
Keep telling yourself that, buddy.
“Nate,” Jordan’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, causing my head to lift. She wears a triumphant grin and gives a nod behind her. “C’mon.”
Pushing off the wall, I can’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, the bounce still in her step as she leads me down the hall, past a multitude of curtained rooms in the ER. I was feeling pretty relaxed while I waited, but the further down the hall we get, the more nervous I become. All I’m doing is a good deed. There’s no reason for my palms to suddenly be sweating or my mouth to go dry, but here I am.
Jordan pulls the curtain back on one of the rooms, stepping inside. “The firefighter I was telling you about,” she says as I step around the curtain to see the blonde haired woman sitting in a bed. “If he gives you any trouble, or you want me to kick him out, just yell. I won’t be far.”
I glance at Jordan as she steps by me, not missing the “good luck” that she murmurs for my ears only before pulling the drape shut again.
“You,” the woman says, and I look back to her, finding her eyes full of curiosity.
I flash her a grin. “Me.”
“What are you doing here?”
Taking a couple of steps further into the small, draped room, I stand toward the end of her bed, shrugging a shoulder as casually as possible. “Well, considering I saved your life, I figured I’d come by and see how you were doing.”
I can already tell how different she is now than the other times I’ve seen her. She’s reserved, almost shy, but full of inquisitiveness, like she wants to know everything, but doesn’t know how to ask. It’s so opposite of the woman in the elevator who laid it all out for me, gave me her story without so much as a word from me.
The only similarity I can see so far is her cheeks turning a beautiful shade of pink, enhancing her already gorgeous features. I didn’t notice in the elevator, or last night, but in the light of the hospital room, and the moment of peace and quiet, I realize she has this pouty bottom lip that looks so kissable I can’t help but lick my own lips.
I’m not here to hit on her, though, so I need to keep my focus, and my eyes, away from her lips and curves.
Curves that I damn well noticed last night, especially when I had her pulled against my body, not once, but twice. Curves that caught my eye as she walked across the sidewalk to give that man a piece of her mind. Curves that are now hidden by a hospital gown, though I’m well aware they’re there. I accused her of checking me out the other day, but the truth is I was just as guilty. Much like now.
“Right. I guess I should say thank you. I was starting to think I wasn’t going to get out of that room,” she says, bringing me back to her eyes. The one and only place that I should be looking.
“I wasn’t talking about the fire,” I tell her with a smirk. “I’m talking about interrupting the murder you were ready to commit on that guy.”